Do you give a crop? Guidance needed...

Cato

Hello, all you wonderful, skilled, knowledgeable peoples! I'm not much of a photographer - basically, I point my camera and squeeze my eyes as well as the shutter button. So, things like composition baffle me. As a result of this, I guess, I am reluctant to crop my photos. I really do try to compose as best I can through the VF. Sometimes, I'll trim my photos by 10% or so, but maintain the same 3:2 ratio. I guess I'm trying to be just a teensy bit of a purist, and not rely on post-processing as a total crutch.

I may as well just blurt it out: I am insecure about cropping. That said, and with hat humbly in hand, could someone please help me with with this shot? I only had a couple of seconds to take it and did what I could, but I know it could be better. Thanks!

dkoyanagi

HI Cato.

Here's a couple of links I found useful.

handy intro to composition

a quick way to crop to "rule of thirds" in Photoshop.

patsy easley

I have a few ideas if you don't mind me playing with your picture. Let me know and then I will see what I can do.

Cato

Thank you, both, for the replies!

Patsy, please do - I greatly appreciate it!

patsy easley

I cropped the picture some. Then I upped the hue and saturation in CS3. Then I played with the curves a little, making the highlights brighter and the darks darker.

Cato

Patsy, I appreciate you working with my image. Your crop is pretty much along the lines I was thinking - basically, tightening the perspective.

With your other enhancements, you hit upon another one of my post-processing stumbling blocks. I tend to vacillate between strongly saturated, contrasty color and smoother, more "natural" tones. So often I look back at photos I had processed and think, "that one needs richer color" or "man, I way overboosted that one." It's enough to drive a man to drink!

patsy easley

I tend to over saturate my images. I have adopted the rule of set it were I like it then tone it down a few steps.